Demon Love
by minx
Summary: F/F slash. Lavender and Parvati finish their 6th year, and discover their destiny may lie with each other...and demons.
1. Chapter 01

A/N: Ignored the summary? Just a reminder this is slash and features lesbian content. So if the idea of Lavender and Parvati together makes you say "Eurgh!" you'll want to pass on this one. 

Demon Love Part 1

Do you know where friendship ends and passion does begin? 

- Suzanne Vega 

Parvati Patil tapped her quill against the side of her head, then turned and sneaked a look at Lavender Brown, who occupied the seat next to her. Lavender's head remained bent over her desk, where she sat scribbling on her roll of parchment and twirling a strand of hair around one finger as she wrote. Parvati knew she should be concentrating harder - they were in the middle of their History of Magic final - but she couldn't help thinking ahead to tomorrow night.

Tomorrow marked the end of exams for their sixth year, and she and Lavender had agreed to meet at a secluded place by the lake to celebrate later in the evening. Parvati had been planning this for months, ever since the Easter holidays to be exact. She knew what she hoped would happen, but every time she got a chance to act something made her change her mind and - 

"Fifteen minutes," reminded Professor Binns, floating around the room. 

Parvati sighed, forced herself to focus on her essay question, and began writing her conclusion.

**

While Hermione moaned about forgetting to include a mention of Victorian occult practices in her essay for Binns, Parvati sat quietly at the Gryffindor table. Everyone seemed to be riding the same adrenaline rush that comes with finishing exams, and while some students like Hermione processed this sensation by reviewing each question and her own answers, Parvati preferred to forget about exams as soon as they were done. Second-guessing herself never seemed very helpful. _So stop doing it now_, she told herself, feeling her stomach flip when Lavender leaned over to whisper something to her.

Parvati thought she'd never meet anyone else with whom she could be as close as her twin, Padma - until she came to Hogwarts. Her first shock had been the Sorting Hat separating the two of them. Prior to coming to school, she and Padma had been inseparable, sharing a room and often even the same bed at home. For the first eleven years of her life, Parvati had lived in what felt like complete synchronicity with her twin. 

Then she had become friends with Lavender Brown. Whereas Parvati and Padma were alike in nearly every way, Lavender represented something different. She wasn't particularly striking in appearance, with light brown hair and blue-grey eyes. Very different from the Patil twins who both were marked by strong, expressive faces and masses of thick dark hair. But Lavender intrigued her, and they had so much in common that soon Parvati found herself doing everything with the other girl. After six years, Parvati felt she knew Lavender better than anyone else in the world, even Padma. She knew when Lavender liked to eat breakfast, could identify her just by the sound of her sigh, knew how she looked when she slept.

Padma hadn't much liked her twin's new friendship, and still fussed at Parvati. "I don't know what you see in that girl," she often complained. "You like her more than me."

"I don't. I just like her differently." Parvati recalled how she'd had to look away from Padma as she said this, knowing exactly how she did like Lavender. 

**

Parvati and Lavender's last exam was Divination, a subject in which they both excelled. Privately, Parvati didn't have much patience with Professor Trelawney, but she was interested in Divination and Lavender adored the woman, so Parvati had never shown anything but public admiration. Not to mention such displays seemed to ensure high marks in that subject. Their final exam this year involved a range of divination techniques, from interpreting a variety of zodiacs to reading tarot cards and of course, their professor's preferred method of divination, crystal-gazing. 

"The challenge now is to see what the orb holds not for yourself but for the other person," cautioned Trelawney in her misty voice. 

Clearing her throat, Lavender began. "Parvati will face a challenge this summer."

"Yes? What kind of challenge? Tell us what you see, dear," urged the teacher.

Lavender peered harder into the ball. She was silent for several minutes before saying with a frown, "It involves - it involves... something old, I think." She shook her head and stared again at the cloudy ball. "Something that belongs to her or her family. She has to make a decision…"

"Can you see these events unfolding?" Professor Trelawney's voice drifted at them.

"I can see - oh!" Lavender let out a small cry and drew back, her face flushed.

"What is it, my dear?" Professor Trelawney swooped next to Lavender and put an arm around her shoulder. "Perhaps the clairvoyant vibrations are too much for you? You are particularly sensitive to their workings. Try to tell us what you see."

But Lavender had already pushed back her chair. "No," she said, shaking her head. "There's nothing else," she added, not looking at Parvati.

Professor Trelawney fixed her owl-like eyes on Lavender for a moment, clearly disappointed her best pupil was suddenly refusing to continue a reading. "Very well, dear," she sighed, jotting down notes with her quill. "You'll want to work on your endurance over the summer. I feel certain you are on the edge of a break-through."

"What was that all about?" asked Parvati as they clambered down the ladder.

Lavender's blue eyes seemed pale, and the irises very dark, when she looked at Parvati. "I don't want to talk about it." Shuddering, she added, "I hope you brought something good for our party tonight. I need it."

**

Now Parvati sat by the lake with Lavender. Both of them had brought along bottles nicked from their parents' drinks cupboards. Stealing them had been Parvati's idea, who fully intended to use the time-honored method of inebriation to lower everyone's inhibitions.

"I hope you appreciate this," grumbled Lavender, pulling out her bottle of vodka. It had been much more difficult for her, having to deal with her Muggle parents' lock and being unable to use magic on it.

Parvati announced, "My parents hardly ever drink. They probably won't even notice anything's gone." Producing two shot glasses, she poured out vodka for herself and Lavender.

"To our final year at Hogwarts," proposed Lavender, raising her glass.

"Cheers." Parvati clinked her glass against Lavender's and gulped down her drink. Coughing slightly, she wiped her mouth and looked at Lavender, who hadn't quite managed the whole shot. "Drink up," Parvati encouraged.

Lavender finished off the remainder of her glass then looked over at Parvati's bottle. "What did you bring?"

"Drambuie. My parents only drink it at Christmas so I didn't think they'd notice its absence." 

Lavender poured them each a glass, then raised hers and downed it in one swallow.

"Lavender! You're supposed to sip this," admonished Parvati.

"How do you know?"

"I know a lot of things."

Lavender smiled. "Things you didn't share with me?" She filled her glass again and took a small sip. "I like this one better."

"It's yours." Parvati raised her glass and took a swallow. She noticed Lavender had undone the front of her robes and wore only a pair of shorts and a Weird Sisters t-shirt underneath. 

Feeling Parvati's eyes on her, Lavender asked, "Like my shirt? I got it at their last concert."

"Yeah." Suddenly feeling warm herself, Parvati shrugged off her own robes and lay on her back. The coolness of the grass enveloped her and she kicked off her shoes, running her bare feet across the turf. "What'd you see this afternoon in Trelawney's room?"

Lavender flopped down beside her. "Nothing."

"Sure?" Parvati turned her head to regard her friend. "You didn't act like it was nothing."

Lavender looked down and plucked at the blades of grass. "It was just a mistake. Too hot up there."

Parvati resumed staring up at the stars. "Okay." She reached over and handed Lavender a bottle. "Have another drink. It will help you adjust to the clairvoyant vibrations," she added, imitating Trelawney's voice.

Lavender giggled. "Well, maybe just one more..."

**

"Parvati?" Lavender's voice seemed to be coming from far away. "Have you ever noticed that if you lay down and look up everything spins?"

"That only happens when you're drunk." Parvati now lay on her front in the grass and glanced over at her friend, who appeared to be studying the night sky. 

"I don't think I like it." Lavender sat up and giggled. "Can you make it stop?"

Parvati sat up as well. Lavender leaned against her and put her face next to Parvati's. "Please?" she asked, still laughing.

Parvati pushed back the strands of hair that had blown across Lavender's face. Then, hands still resting on either side of Lavender's face, Parvati took a deep breath, leaned forward and kissed her. For a moment she felt the other girl stiffen in surprise, but instead of pulling away, Lavender wriggled even closer and kissed Parvati back. Parvati could taste the sweetness of the Drambuie on Lavender's lips as they kissed. Everything about Lavender seemed sweet - the way she smelled, the feel of her mouth, the softness of her cheek as she pressed herself closer. 

"That didn't stop the spinning," Lavender whispered, her breath hot against Parvati's ear.

Parvati opened her eyes. "Sorry."

"Don't be." Lavender moved over until she was in front of Parvati, then as she kissed her, pushed Parvati back to the earth. 

Parvati put her arms around Lavender, enjoying the feel of the other girl's weight on her. She'd wondered for so long what it felt like to kiss another girl, especially how it would feel to kiss Lavender. Now she knew: Lavender was soft but her kisses came hard and her hands knew just where to touch, finding their way under Parvati's shirt and pushing the cotton top up to bare her skin to the cool breeze. She was acutely conscious of Lavender's smooth legs tangled with her own, of Lavender's fingers now pushing back her thick long hair, now tracing the outline of her mouth, now at her waist and making her jump in surprise. Parvati felt herself blush as she recalled how many nights she had imagined Lavender's hands touching her, just like this, as she lay in her own bed. 

"Just a minute," Parvati gasped and rolled to the side, suddenly self-conscious. 

"What's wrong?" Lavender regarded her with concern. 

"Nothing. It's late, that's all. I didn't think we'd be out here so long. Don't want to get locked out of the castle." Parvati took several deep breaths and tried to steady herself.

Lavender grinned in the dark. "Let's hope Granger is sound asleep when we get back so we can pick up where we left off."

But Lavender's ambitious plans proved short-lived. Once they stood up and began walking, Lavender experienced the full effects of drinking half a bottle of spirits on an empty stomach. "I think I'm going to be sick," she muttered and Parvati had to admit her friend looked rather green. 

Lavender ducked into the bushes, where she promptly was sick. It didn't seem to bode well, Parvati reflected sourly, that the first girl she'd ever kissed had to throw up twenty minutes later. The odd reading from that afternoon returned to Parvati's mind. What exactly had Lavender seen and refused to tell her? Maybe there was something wrong with her besides the alcohol.

When Lavender returned she looked worse than ever. Her eyes were red and her fine hair tangled, and for once in her life, she wasn't giggling. "I'm sorry," she said with a mournful look at Parvati.

"I'm the one who's sorry," replied Parvati. "This was a stupid idea. C'mon, I'll help you back to our dorm."

But Lavender planted herself next to Parvati and leaned against her shoulder. "It wasn't stupid," she whispered, running a finger along Parvati's bare arm. "I like being with you." 

Parvati felt gooseflesh where Lavender had touched her and gave her friend a sad smile. "I know, you're my best friend. Some friend I've been tonight, though, getting you sick."

Lavender shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant and you know it. You're more than my friend now." She curled her hand around Parvati's.

"You do know you're drunk, don't you? I probably shouldn't listen to anything you tell me."

But Lavender remained insistent. "You didn't have to get me drunk. I would have kissed you anyway. I was just afraid _you_ wouldn't kiss me sober. I'd kiss you now except I just, well -" Lavender broke off and looked doubtfully over at the shrubbery.

Parvati smiled and put an arm around Lavender's shoulders. "Let's get you upstairs," she said.

Staggering up the many flights of stairs to Gryffindor common room without encountering Peeves, a patrolling teacher or a prefect wasn't easy and Parvati was frankly relieved when they reached the sixth-year girls' dormitory. Lavender was practically asleep on her feet and tumbled unceremoniously into bed. 

"_Accio_." Parvati brought a tumbler of water from the window ledge and handed it to her friend. "Drink some of this," she urged. 

Lavender leaned on one elbow and took a few gulps before falling back against her pillows. The room was dark and completely silent. Parvati hesitated, pulled off Lavender's shoes, then suddenly felt shy again and wondered if she should help her friend into her nightgown. But Lavender had passed out and it seemed too much trouble to change her clothes, so pulling the hangings around the four-poster, Parvati went over to her own bed.

**

"Lavender, you look like you've been hit by a bludger," observed Seamus at breakfast the next morning. "What were you doing last night?"

"Nothing." Lavender glared at him and accepted a piece of dry toast from Parvati. 

"Nothing my arse. Why didn't you invite me to the party?" 

"Shut up, Finnigan," said Parvati with uncharacteristic rudeness. Lavender really did look bad. She had dark circles under her eyes, which remained bloodshot, and her face looked wan. 

Lavender wasn't much interested in food, but she did manage to consume an entire jug of pumpkin juice in one go, at which point she seemed to perk up and began eating the hash browns Parvati placed before her.

"You know, Madam Pomfrey could make your hangover go away in an instant," persisted Seamus, grinning madly. "Oh, but then you'd have to tell her you'd been drinking, wouldn't you? And let's see, that's definitely worth some detention time. Possibly lose some house points. But we're so far up at this point I don't think that would make much difference."

"I said, shut up," Parvati hissed, glancing down the table to see if Hermione, a prefect, had heard. 

"Fine. Just share the wealth with your fellow Gryffindors next time, okay?"

"Deal. But you're going to have to wait a while for that."

"Drank it all last night, did you? Wasn't very thoughtful." Seamus enjoyed teasing the girls, but truth be told he was feeling a little jealous. Usually Parvati and Lavender were fun to hang out with. Why hadn't Lavender asked him to join them? He really didn't see what those two girls _did_ together all the time. 

**

Exam results were posted right before the end of term banquet and as usual, Hermione had come out tops in every class. Gryffindor had won the House Cup for the sixth year running and Parvati looked forward to rubbing it in when she saw Pansy Parkinson at the feast that night. Even better, they'd be on the train to London tomorrow. Lavender had asked Parvati to spend most of the summer with her at her family's place in the country, an invitation that had been readily accepted. Lavender's parents being Muggles was a bit inconvenient, but Parvati was willing to spend six weeks in a non-magical home if it meant being with Lavender the whole time. Besides, Padma had been bugging her worse than ever - insisting that Parvati had agreed to loan her certain articles of clothing when she knew she hadn't - and acting petulant that Parvati didn't plan to spend more time at home. 

The end of term feast lasted late, and when the students were finally herded off to their dorms Parvati felt in high spirits. She glanced up at the enchanted ceiling, which sparkled with all the night stars, and tugged at the billowing sleeve of Lavender's robe. When Lavender turned Parvati laughed softly, not because anything was amusing but just because she knew Lavender would smile back at her, which she did. 

Upstairs, they pulled the hangings around their beds save the ones separating them, and whispered to each other until Hermione demanded crossly, "Will you two be quiet? We've got to get up early tomorrow." Then Parvati simply beckoned Lavender over to her own bed, pulled the curtains around them, and muffled any giggles with her pillow. But once Lavender was so close to her, Parvati didn't feel so much like joking. Instead, she just felt a constant sense of wonder that this girl shared her feelings - shared, it seemed, her very soul. The thought made Parvati quiet but Lavender just smiled sleepily as Parvati stroked her light brown hair, or ran her fingers across Lavender's shoulder blades, or kissed her ever so quietly in the dark. Lavender eventually dropped off to sleep but Parvati stayed awake, watching her. So much energy was coursing through her body she thought she'd never need to sleep again.

Unfortunately, Parvati didn't feel quite as energetic come morning, and she had to rush to gather up her things and clatter downstairs with the others to catch the Hogwarts Express. Hurriedly twisting her hair into a loose plait, she thumped the lid of her trunk shut and fastened the lock. By late afternoon they'd be at King's Cross. She'd already made arrangements with her parents for the Browns to pick her up one week from today. 

The week at home passed more quickly than Parvati had anticipated. After their intense final days at school, being separated from Lavender felt as odd as her initial separation from Padma had once felt. When she saw Lavender's face as her family arrived at the Patils' house, Parvati knew the other girl felt the same way. Yet riding in the Browns' car was worse than the journey on the Hogwarts Express where at least they'd had a compartment to themselves, interrupted only occasionally by Seamus or Dean or Padma and her friends who accused them of being even more anti-social than usual. Now they had to sit in the back seat, so close yet not daring to touch each other. 

Parvati didn't even trust herself to look at Lavender; she was afraid the Browns would be able to tell her feelings just from the way she looked at their daughter. And she already worried, sometimes, what the Browns did think about their daughter's best friend the witch. After all, her own father was an Obliviator, not a Rotary Club member like Lavender's dad. The Patil household was crammed full of magical collectibles her mother liked to buy and bore no resemblance to the tidy, mundane interior of the Brown home. Parvati sometimes got the feeling the Browns felt intimidated by their own daughter just because she could do magic. She imagined it must be a little difficult for Muggles like the Browns to reconcile themselves to the fact their child could turn the tableware into a tortoise, and suspected additional information as to Lavender's new-found interest in kissing girls might prove too much for them to handle.

Lavender, however, appeared untroubled by potential parental wrath. As soon as they were alone in the cheery yellow and white-papered bedroom they were to share, Parvati found herself flattened against the wall with Lavender pressed against her. "Just so you don't forget who you belong with," said Lavender after giving Parvati a long kiss. 

Parvati pulled her closer to continue but Lavender shook off her grip, giggling. "Don't you think you'd better unpack?" she said coyly. "Come and find me when you're done," she added and slipped out the door.

Smiling to herself, Parvati opened her trunk and began piling her clothes onto the twin bed across from Lavender's. With that kind of encouragement Parvati felt certain she could unpack very quickly. She opened the door of the wardrobe, and then she screamed.

Hovering in the darkness of the empty wardrobe was a hand: a cleanly severed, human hand and it was gripping a blade.


	2. Chapter 02

A/N: First the obligatory slash reminder - not only is this story about a relationship between two girls, but Lavender and Parvati no less. Thanks to the brave-hearted readers from part 1: Amanita Lestrange, Wotan, Hype, Zoe Bromelow, Tessie, Cloudstrife73, Bookcat87, and Cassandra Claire.

Special thanks to my ace beta-reader, Heath. She is not only an impromptu geography tutor but also a keen-eyed editor.

DEMON LOVE PART 2

Parvati's scream brought the whole house running.

"What is it? Are you okay?" Mrs Brown followed close on Lavender's heels, and Mr Brown soon appeared after huffing up the stairs.

Parvati had slammed the door shut and now stood in front of the wardrobe trying desperately to produce a normal expression for the Browns. "It was – that is, I saw a, er, a spider," she stammered. "A really big one."

"A spider? Oh dear," murmured Mrs Brown and turned to her husband. "I knew I should have dusted more carefully."

But Mr Brown refused to be upset. "No reason to be afraid of a spider," he declared, stepping towards the wardrobe. "Let's just have a look at him –"

"It's gone," Parvati said quickly and pointed across the room. "When I opened the door it ran away."

"Well, if you girls see any more spiders just squash them with a shoe," advised Mr Brown with a wink, then he and his wife went downstairs.

Lavender closed her bedroom door and ran to Parvati's side. "What did you see?" she demanded, placing her hands on Parvati's shoulders.

Parvati remained in front of the wardrobe. "What did _you_ see, during the crystal-gazing?" she asked and looked straight into Lavender's eyes.

"You first."

"Alright." Parvati shook off Lavender's hands and crossed her arms, wishing she had her wand. "I saw a hand and it was holding a dagger. Sound familiar?"

Lavender looked ashen. "Are you sure? Maybe it was a Boggart."

"I don't think so. This isn't a magical house. Which brings me to my other question: what is any sort of hand, dismembered or otherwise, doing floating in your wardrobe?"

Lavender pushed Parvati aside and opened the door. "There's nothing here," she said, turning back with a puzzled expression. "Are you _sure_ you saw something?" She closed the door and turned the latch.

"I saw a hand. A hand holding a sword." Parvati sat down on one of the beds. "What did you see?"

Lavender sat on the bed opposite her friend. She looked down at her knees and said, "I saw you. You were fighting - it didn't really seem like you. You were different, but I just knew it was you."

"You didn't see a small dagger? You didn't see my hand getting chopped off or something?"

Lavender looked up. "Ew! Gross, no I didn't see your hand getting chopped off."

"What was I fighting with? Did _I_ have a sword?"

Lavender squinted and regarded her knees again. "I don't think so," she said finally. "It was just really…icky."

"Great. Icky. That's something to go on, that is."

Lavender raised her eyes to Parvati's. "You don't know how it felt, seeing you like that. I could just tell something bad was going to happen, that's why I couldn't look any more."

Parvati got up and moved next to Lavender. Putting an arm around her, she said, "I'm sorry. I just wish you'd been able to look a little more, now that I've seen an armed hand."

"I thought you said it was dismembered," replied Lavender solemnly.

Parvati groaned. "Why doesn't anyone else know how funny you are?"

"Because I only tell my best jokes to you." With a smile, Lavender got up and walked over to her own unpacked trunk. Opening it, she removed her wand and gestured for Parvati to do the same. Now armed, the two girls proceeded towards the wardrobe once again.

"This time you open it," directed Lavender. "Maybe only you can see it."

"_Alohomora_," commanded Parvati and the doors flew open. Once again the hand appeared. "Can you see it?" she whispered to Lavender.

"No. Is it there again?"

"Oh yeah." Parvati trained her wand on the hand which, although gruesome in concept, hovered in a non-menacing way. "Think I should talk to it?"

Lavender made face. "It's a hand, not a brain."

"Worth a try." Parvati cleared her throat and asked, "What are you?"

No response. Feeling a little bolder, Parvati said, "Why am I the only one who can see you?"

Now the hand's silence was really starting to irk her. "_Accio_!" she yelled, but amazingly, the spell had no effect.

Parvati had to admit she was somewhat relieved. She wasn't sure what she'd planned to do if the hand actually flew over to her. Still, the thing seemed more and more harmless by the minute. Maybe it really was a Boggart. "Watch this," she joked to Lavender. Raising her wand dramatically, Parvati brought it down with a rush of gold sparks and said, "I, Parvati Patil, command this hand to –" she looked again at Lavender "- what should I command it to do?"

"Dance?" suggested Lavender, giggling.

"I, Parvati Patil, command this hand to dance!"

Parvati nearly dropped her wand when the hand zipped from the wardrobe, landed on Lavender's desk and began to dance.

"What's going on?" demanded Lavender, following Parvati's open-mouthed stare towards the desk. "Is it dancing?"

"Uh-huh," Parvati nodded. "I think it's attempting a Highland fling."

"Tell it to do something else," Lavender urged.

"Stop." The hand stopped. "Show yourself to my friend."

Now both girls gasped as the hand moved to the center of the room. "I can see it," whispered Lavender. Gradually, however, it became clear the hand was not alone. In fact, a number of limbs began to appear, and eventually the complete body of a very strange creature shimmered before their eyes. Parvati could see what looked like tusks and three eyes. It also had a number of arms, too many to count. All but one of the hands grasped some sort of weapon.

"Tell it to go back, tell it to go away," urged Lavender, not giggling anymore.

But Parvati took a step closer and stared. "Durga?" she whispered.

"Daughter," came a deep voice. 

Now Parvati backed up and put out an arm, preventing Lavender from moving forward. "Uh, should we bow or something?" she finally asked, glancing worriedly at Lavender, who clearly had no idea that somehow, Parvati had just conjured up the ancient, defending-warrior spirit of Durga. 

"I have waited years to come to you," the voice continued and the three eyes rolled around to fix on Parvati's face. "You have passed the final test."

"Test? What test?" Parvati did wish ancient spectres could be a little more straightforward. Then again, perhaps they found it taxing to follow modern conventions of English. After all, Durga wasn't even British.

"You have shown the courage to separate yourself from your sister - your twin - and bind yourself with _her_." Durga pointed one of her hands to Lavender, who squeaked and clung to Parvati's elbow. "Together, you will continue the tradition of my daughters."

"But she couldn't even see you until I commanded it," said Parvati, not certain she wanted to become a daughter of Durga, especially if it meant growing another set of arms and an extra eye. "Why her?"

"You need her. She gives you a completeness your twin does not."

"And I'm so special because…?"

"You are my namesake, Parvati," the creature said simply. Then its eyes rolled again, this time coming to rest in Lavender's direction. "_She_ knows what you must do. She has seen it. I leave you my weapons, and this relic." The hand floated closer to them. 

"What am I supposed to do?" Parvati asked, exasperated.

Three eyebrows raised in surprise. "Surely you know. The Dark Lord is wreaking havoc in your land. You must do your part." And with that, Durga vanished and the weapons she'd been holding clattered to the floor.

"Damn!" Parvati lowered her wand and stared around the room. "Where is Hermione Granger when you need her?"

"Forget Hermione," gasped Lavender, who had taken a seat on her bed and watched the floating hand apprehensively. "Maybe we should owl Harry. Isn't defeating You-Know-Who _his_ destiny?"

"She didn't say we were supposed to defeat him, just do our part." Parvati sat next to Lavender. "But I wish Hermione was around. I don't remember much about Durga."

"What – you two have met before?"

"No. I just know a little about her. Supposed to be the founder of a magical group of women warriors in India. I just didn't expect her to turn up in a farmhouse outside Swindon, you know?"

"I do know." Lavender leaned against Parvati. "Maybe you should write to Hermione, like you said. She's helped Harry in almost every weird thing he's done - maybe she could help us."

"Okay." Parvati got up and moved towards her trunk.

Lavender added, "Could you get my crystal ball from my trunk? I'm going to see if I can get the images back I saw last week."

"What?" Parvati regarded the other girl in surprise.

But Lavender had already seated herself at her desk and looked more composed. "Well, she did say she'd waited years for you, and now she'd gone and chosen us. I think the least I can do is try to figure out what we're supposed to do. And do something with that hand – if Mum comes in it's going to be a bit difficult to explain."

**

"What did she mean, you were her namesake?" whispered Lavender. It was almost midnight and they were supposed to be asleep but neither of them felt very tired.

Parvati squirmed. Lavender's twin bed was much smaller than their four-posters at school, especially with two people in it. "The original Parvati was the Great Mother. Durga is one of the enchanted forms she later took."

"And this Durga, what did she do?"

"She fought demons." Parvati felt Lavender stir beside her and heard her draw a sharp breath. "What is it?"

"Um, these demons…what do they look like?"

"Depends. The most famous one she defeated was a buffalo demon. Forget his name, but he was the You-Know-Who equivalent on the Indian subcontinent centuries ago. I've only seen pictures, of course, but he was pretty ugly. Not that Durga would win any prizes today, either, I guess," she added, recalling the multiple limbs and eyes they'd seen earlier. 

"Oh my god, oh my god, _oh my god_." Lavender sat bolt upright and began pulling at her hair in the way she did whenever she was getting an idea. 

"_What_?" asked Parvati. 

"That's it. That's what I saw in Professor Trelawney's room, in the orb. A buffalo. But it didn't make any sense, I thought I was mistaken. Then I saw you -" Lavender had jumped out of bed and paced nervously in front of Parvati. "But if he was defeated, why would I see him now?" she wondered aloud.

"Well," began Parvati, feeling a chill come over her despite the summer evening, "when I said Durga defeated demons, she didn't always kill them. She usually just made them work for her, used them in her fight against evil. So he's not necessarily dead."

Lavender stopped her frantic walking and kneeled in front of Parvati's bedside. "Do you think there could be a mistake? I mean, why would that Durga person say we're supposed to be her daughters? I don't like swords! And I really, _really_ don't like demons! I didn't even like Flobberworms!" Lavender's voice began to rise hysterically.

"Um, I think she was using the daughter term symbolically. But it is kind of weird." Parvati had to admit that of all the Gryffindors, she and Lavender seemed - except possibly Neville - the least likely to fall heirs to a bunch of enchanted weapons. Still, the idea was starting to grow on her. The handles of the things were encrusted with jewels and offered interesting potential as accessories. Plus she knew if Durga had appeared to her at home, Padma would already be hogging all the best-looking weapons. At least Lavender wasn't greedy.

Parvati reached out and tugged at Lavender's nightgown. "Come back to bed. We can't do anything else until morning anyway. Maybe Hermione's owl will come," she added. "She got the highest marks in Demonology - this should be right up her alley."

Lavender sighed, then slid into the narrow bed again. "Let's hope so."

"Bet I can make you forget all about that buffalo demon," whispered Parvati, putting her arms around Lavender and kissing her between the shoulder blades. She felt the other girl relax and Lavender turned over to face Parvati. 

"I never knew you were named after a famous magical creature."

Parvati smiled. "Just one of the many things you didn't know about me."

"Not really. I think I know you better than anyone else does." Lavender kissed her lightly. "And don't you forget it."

"I won't. I can't." Parvati said and ran her hand along Lavender's leg, as far as she could reach.

"Can you tell the hand to be invisible again?" asked Lavender after a few more minutes. "It's giving me the creeps, just floating there."

Parvati sent the hand to the wardrobe, then resumed her activities with Lavender. "Better?" she whispered.

"Much." Lavender reached her hands to smooth back Parvati's hair, then took her face and kissed her. "Promise you won't leave me? I don't think I could deal with any of this without you."

Parvati placed her hand over Lavender's heart. "Like skin to back," she whispered. "That's what you are to me."

**

Parvati felt a little shy the next morning but Lavender seemed unperturbed. "What are you staring at?" she giggled, getting dressed.

"Nothing." Parvati dropped her eyes and hoped Lavender didn't notice how she blushed. They must have changed clothes hundreds of times in front of each other, but now it felt different. 

But Lavender did notice, or at least sensed how her friend was feeling. "Nothing's changed," she said, doing up her shoelaces. "You don't have to get shy on me."

"Right." Parvati nodded but inside, she knew everything had changed. Kissing Lavender, seeing Durga - Parvati felt drawn into something that was beyond herself, something powerful.

"Well, get dressed. Today is field trip time." Lavender spoke impatiently.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Just get ready. I'll be downstairs, packing a lunch."

By midmorning, Parvati found herself hiking with Lavender, who remained uncommunicative yet insistent on finding an area she claimed to have viewed before in the crystal.

"Where exactly are we going?" Parvati asked, watching as the hand bobbed alongside them.

"I'll know it when I see it," replied Lavender, scanning the horizon.

"That's what Padma says whenever we go shopping and it takes her hours to find anything she likes," grumbled Parvati. "Besides, I don't see why I have to carry all the weapons – they're a lot heavier than carrying sandwiches around I can tell you."

"Durga gave them to you. I don't think I'd better touch them," called Lavender over her shoulder. She gave a great jump and a small shriek as she felt something brush against her arm.

Parvati, however, saw what it was: an owl, and it had something tied to its leg. "Hermione's answer!" she said, rushing forward to the owl perched nearby.

**

When Hermione had seen the owl at her window she'd been puzzled. It wasn't Pigwidgeon and it wasn't Hedwig; she couldn't think of anyone besides Harry or Ron who would owl her over the summer holidays. She certainly hadn't expected to hear from Lavender and Parvati. Curious, she read the short letter. 

As she digested its contents, Hermione felt jealous. How had Parvati Patil - not the worst student of course, but certainly not one to take on extra homework - managed to conjure up the spirit of Durga? It just wasn't fair. She, Hermione, had got the top marks in Demonology, History of Magic, Charms - all of it. When she thought back to their Demonology lessons, all she remembered Lavender Brown commenting on was how ugly most of the demons were, and teasing Parvati about which one was her boyfriend. Now they had a bona fide magical creature in their house and had no idea what to do with it. And of course, they wanted an immediate reply. With an impatient sigh, she scribbled a quick response and sent the owl back into the night. Then she went over to her bookcase, drew out some reference works and began to read.

**

"What's it say?" Lavender peered over Parvati's shoulder, which was difficult to do, Parvati being the taller of the two.

"Not much. She's working on it, but thinks it would be best if she could actually see what weapons and stuff we have. Apparently Durga's kind of obscure."

"Oh, so you were named after an obscure magical spirit?" teased Lavender, feeling more lighthearted now that Hermione was on the case. 

"I wouldn't say that about something with ten arms." Parvati removed her heavy backpack and gestured to the countryside. "Any of this look familiar?"

"Of course it does. I've spent practically every summer here."

"You know what I mean."

Lavender took a seat on a fallen log. "It's not what I saw. But that was so blurry. Even when I tried to look again, all I really see is that buffalo demon."

Parvati nodded glumly. The particular stretch of countryside in which the Browns resided was picturesque, hardly the place one would expect to find demons. But after yesterday's events, Parvati had begun to eye the place with a new perspective. The Browns' house was solitary and set far back from the main road. It was easy to drive right past it if you didn't know there was a house at the end of the overgrown lane. And the wood around them, which had always seemed friendly and cheerful to Parvati on previous visits, now appeared more sinister. Durga had left them a bag of enchanted weapons for a reason; who was to say something evil couldn't appear right in this clearing? Parvati had always felt safe at Hogwarts, but as she well knew even her school was not immune to dark forces. And if the demon had somehow escaped and gone to You-Know-Who, no place was safe - not even Wiltshire. 

**

Following a fruitless afternoon, the girls returned to the house. Lavender's shoulders and nose were red with sunburn and both girls were feeling increasingly anxious over their inability to know how to proceed. 

"You need to invite Hermione over here," said Parvati, dumping the bag of weapons in a corner of their bedroom. "Think your mother will mind?"

Lavender gave a short laugh. "What parent would object to Hermione Granger? I'll invite her, but I'm warning you - all we'll hear is 'why can't you get marks like she does'." 

"I don't care." Parvati flopped onto one of the beds and stared at the ceiling. Then she turned her head to look at Lavender, who was brushing out her hair. "What'll we tell her about us?"

Lavender paused in mid-brush. "What do you mean? Why should we tell her anything?"

"If she stays up here she's bound to notice, don't you think?"

"We'll just have to be careful, then," decided Lavender, resuming her brushing. 

Parvati rolled over onto her front. "I don't know if I can be careful around you. Besides, she's a girl, I bet she'd understand."

Lavender had finished with her hair and now hunted through her things for a bottle of lotion for her shoulders. "I doubt it. Hermione doesn't even hang out with girls. Her best friends are Ron and Harry. All she cares about are books."

"I don't think so. She's pretty perceptive. Besides, I just feel like _everyone_ must be able to tell how I feel about you, every time I so much as look at you."

Lavender frowned, but came and sat with her back to Parvati and handed her to lotion, indicating she should rub it on her shoulders. "They can't tell. When people see us together, all they see are two girls who are friends. That's all. Nobody would even suspect anything romantic existed between us."

Parvati paused, her fingers thick with lotion. "You say that like it's a good thing."

Lavender twisted around and looked at Parvati. "Isn't it?"

Parvati looked into Lavender's eyes. Then she gently pushed her around and continued rubbing Lavender's red shoulders, staring at the disappearing sunburn. "I don't know."

**

The first things Hermione wanted to see were the weapons. Neither Lavender nor Parvati had wanted to handle them too much, so this was the first time they'd really inspected them closely. Hermione had brought with her a number of books, and as each piece was shown to her, she tried to match it with one of the entries. Lavender jotted down the names and special attributes of each weapon. By the time they were done, the girls had to acknowledge they had quite an arsenal sitting before them. 

The jeweled swords had unbreakable blades and could cut through anything. The trident worked especially well on water-demons, Grindylows or Red Caps, the gold spears were equipped with special accuracy charms, and the shield repelled almost every curse except, of course, Avada Kedavra. And the largest sword reputedly cut through entire mountains. 

Parvati picked up one of the smaller, jeweled daggers and flipped it in her hand. "Slices, dices, even cuts this tomato after severing someone's hand," she said, imitating the advertisement she'd seen on the Brown's television earlier that evening. 

Hermione was not amused. "Be careful. They really can sever a limb."

"Yeah, I think we know that," replied Parvati, glowering at the floating hand. 

Lavender sighed. "Let's not fight. Hermione, what are we supposed to do with all this?"

"Well, if I were you I'd learn how to use it first. It's not meant for amateurs."

Parvati flicked her plait across her back. "Okay, so we'll practice. But what about the demon? Do you know anything about him?"

"I did some reading, yes." Hermione pulled out several rolls of parchment on which she had scribbled notes. "Mashihasuri, or the buffalo demon, was once the most powerful of his kind. Of course, the original Mashihasuri is long since dead, but there are other buffalo demons and variations roaming about. My guess is You-Know-Who has located them and is working to bring them back to full strength. They're quite massive, and difficult to kill. Their one weakness is they're a bit slow-moving so if you can catch them off guard, that's your best chance. Of course, they like to move in groups so it's hard to catch them all off guard at once."

"Great. So where do you reckon we're going to find a bunch of buffalo around here?"

Hermione looked surprised. "Didn't I explain? One of the buffalo demon's powers is shape-shifting. As long as he has a host with hooves, he can reside in the host form. When my parents drove me out here we passed quite a few farms. This is an ideal place for these demons to gather and hide." 

Lavender didn't look very happy to learn one of their neighbors could well be harboring demons in his pasture. "Why here? What could You-Know-Who possible want that's here? And if these demons can take the form of ordinary farm animals, how will we even know if we see one?"

"I don't know." Hermione shook her head. "I think we should owl Professor Lupin. He's the Dark Arts specialist. He'd know what to do."

"But _we're_ the ones Durga came to," interjected Parvati. "How many people do we need to bring in?"

Hermione eyed her skeptically. "She didn't say you had to do it all by yourselves, did she? Just do your part. Unless you figure out what that entails, you won't be much help to anyone."

Parvati crossed her arms across her chest. She did hate it when Hermione was right. "Fine. But no way does Professor Lupin get to be one of Durga's daughters."

"I don't think there's any danger of that," said Lavender hurriedly. "It's still early. Hermione, how about a make-over?" she suggested brightly.

At this, both Hermione and Parvati looked at her in astonishment. "Lavender, there's no time for that now," said Parvati. "We've got to master these weapons, owl Lupin, and figure out a plan for tomorrow."

"Master the weapons? I'm really much better with cosmetics charms. And Hermione, I've been dying to try something new with your hair." Lavender eyed the gleaming pile of armaments apprehensively and gave a resigned sighed. "Couldn't I just write the letter to Professor Lupin?"

Hermione shook her head. "You're the ones Durga came to. I'll write the letter. You two practice."

Lavender gingerly picked up a small sword and held it at arm's length. "Eurgh! Do you think this ever killed somebody?"

"Maybe. More likely a demon," said Parvati, who shouldered a spear, then returned to the jeweled swords.

Lavender held the hilt with just two fingers. "That is really disgusting. What does demon blood look like, anyway?" 

Parvati had begun sparring with the hand, which proved to be quite capable despite its diminutive size. "Hey, look at that! I nicked it!" she cried.

Hermione glanced up from the desk and looked at Lavender. "Demon blood? It looks like that," she said calmly, pointing to the hand.

A clear, almost shimmering substance oozed from the spot where Parvati had nicked the hand. She'd assumed the hand had once been attached to Durga, but now she wasn't so sure.

"Um, Hermione?" she asked, sword still raised. "There _are_ good demons, aren't there?"

************

We'll just have to wait until part 3 to learn the answer to that question. In the meantime, I would like to acknowledge the 'skin to back' phrase first comes from Daniel Defoe's _Roxana_, which features the bold and bawdy 18th-century duo, Roxana and Amy. 


	3. Chapter 03

A/N: Still slash, possibly a little slashier than the previous chapter. I believe it was RatheraMutemwiya who complained of not enough Lavender and Parvati action but rest assured, things will keep heating up for them. Yeah, Bookcat, Hermione is everywhere - fond as I've become of Lavender and Parvati I still wasn't convinced they could solve this demon problem all on their own, enter Hermione. Celenae the Goddess of REVENGE: certainly don't want to incur your wrath with a name like that - sorry if I missed your earlier review. Lady alijan, hope you won't hold it against me if I take some liberties from the actual Durga myth - happy researching. And thanks to the rest of you who braved (and reviewed) part 2: Qwyneth, Hermionepotter, Wotan, Franimal, SaraJane and Cloudstrife. And continued thanks for Heath's expertise in locales, which carries over into this part as well. 

DEMON LOVE PART 3

Parvati dropped her sword and it fell to the floor with a loud thump. She moved towards the hand, which had fallen slightly in its hovering and was now dripping its strange, shimmering blood all over the carpet. 

"Don't touch it!" shrieked Lavender. 

Too late. Parvati had already stuck out her hand to catch a drop. "It feels like egg white," she announced, looking from her own hand to the severed one. "Do you think it's okay?"

"Who cares if it's okay?" Lavender continued in a high-pitched squeal. She was practically dancing with anxiety. "It's a demon hand! I've got a piece of a demon in my bedroom and it's ruining the carpet!"

"Will you be quiet, both of you?" demanded Hermione. "I know you only asked me to visit because you needed a brain for this, this … _rowboat_ of fools we're all on, so I'm telling you - be quiet before your parents come upstairs!"

Indeed, no sooner had she issued this edict than Mrs Brown called out: "Lavender, what are you girls doing up there?"

"NOTHING!" all three of them yelled together. They held their collective breath, waiting to see what would happen next.

"Then please try to be more quiet – your father's watching the news!"

With a sigh of relief they turned again to the hand.

"I think it's fine," announced Hermione, inspecting it. "See, the bleeding's stopped."

"So is it evil?" muttered Lavender. She had retreated to her bed and sat upon it, knees drawn to her chin.

"If it were, it had plenty of opportunity to attack just now." Hermione turned to Parvati. "It seems to be somehow associated with Durga. Did she say anything about it?"

Parvati shook her head. "No, nothing. I thought it was one of _her_ hands. I had no idea it belonged to…something else." She narrowed her eyes for a better look. "It looks human - it doesn't _look_ demonic."

"You can't always tell by looking," Hermione reminded. She returned to the desk and her letter. "I've asked Professor Lupin to visit as soon as possible. After I tell him about this I'm sure he'll get here as soon as he can." She picked up her quill and continued writing, thinking to herself how fortunate it was that Lupin had returned to Hogwarts the year before last - and had stayed, making him the longest-lasting Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor in recent memory.

With a final glance at the hand, Parvati crossed the room and sat next to Lavender. "Are you alright?" she asked, putting an arm around Lavender's shoulders. "I'm sorry if that scared you."

"I'm not scared of that hand." Lavender frowned and tossed back her hair. "I'm only afraid of it ruining my room. Mum just redecorated last year."

"Okay." Parvati smiled and bent closer to Lavender, who pulled away, nodding pointedly at Hermione. 

Parvati didn't see what the problem was. Hermione was so engrossed in her writing and her back was to them anyway - surely she wouldn't begrudge them one little kiss. It was a relief when, a few minutes later, Hermione announced the letter was finished and left to locate an owl outside who could carry the letter to Hogwarts.

As soon as the door closed, Parvati pounced on Lavender. "I told you I couldn't be careful around you," she murmured. "This is killing me…"

"You seem to be doing okay," smiled back Lavender, who had to admit she'd missed having Parvati so close to her. As Parvati made up for the lost time she added, "Maybe I should invite Hermione over more often - seems to put you in quite the romantic mood."

Unfortunately, the girls' rendezvous was soon cut short by the sound of approaching footsteps, and they hastily moved to separate beds just as the door opened. Feigning looks of unconcern, both girls lounged on their beds and smiled at Hermione, who gave them each a dubious glance then headed for the camp bed where she was sleeping. 

"With any luck we'll hear from him tomorrow," she announced. "So we'd better get a good night's rest - the next few days could be busy."

**

Parvati found Hermione's presence constraining, since Lavender had become unusually uptight ever since the brainy Gryffindor had arrived. At the same time, however, sneaking opportunities to be alone with Lavender had its own charm. This morning they were brushing their teeth together, bathroom door locked and Hermione already gone downstairs to breakfast. 

Lavender was just putting away her toothbrush when Parvati made her move. 

"You smell like a garden of earthly delights," joked Parvati and ducked to kiss Lavender, who tasted like toothpaste and whose neck was still damp from her freshly shampooed hair. 

"Herbal shampoo," murmured Lavender, not shy now they were behind closed doors. She entangled her fingers in Parvati's thick hair and moved closer. Then she proceeded to kiss Parvati with an ardor she'd only allowed herself to imagine.

Parvati stumbled and banged into the sink. A sharp corner of marble stabbed against her back but she hardly registered this pain. She was too warmly conscious of Lavender's mouth and of Lavender's hands, which had worked their way from her hair to under her thin cotton tank top.

In fact, they were so engrossed they nearly didn't hear Hermione knocking patiently on the door. "What's taking you so long?" they finally heard her ask crossly.

They broke apart and Parvati touched her fingers to her mouth in wonder. She wanted to tell Lavender how nobody had ever kissed her like that - not any of the boys at school, not even those boys from Beauxbatons two years ago. Before she could say anything, however, Lavender opened the door and smiled at Hermione. "Just leaving."

**

The day passed listlessly. Although Hermione kept suggesting they acquaint themselves with the weaponry neither Parvati nor Lavender made much effort in this area. Everyone was waiting anxiously for Professor Lupin's reply. They made almost hourly walks to the stand of trees bordering the Browns' property to see if an owl had arrived, but each time returned to the house empty handed. By late afternoon, Lavender and Parvati had retired upstairs, leaving Hermione to make another check before dinner.

The sultriness of the afternoon hung around the grounds like a haze. Hermione crossed the yard and traveled the now familiar path from the Browns' garden to the thicker, wild grass that dominated the rest of their property. Waiting for her in the clump of trees was the owl she'd sent out yesterday. Its head was tucked under one wing as it rested - apparently it had been waiting for her for quite some time. She gently removed the tightly rolled parchment and read Lupin's response. Then she dashed to the back door, called a quick hello to Mrs Brown in the kitchen and took the stairs two at a time.

As Hermione approached the bedroom door she heard muffled giggles coming from inside. Since this was the sound she most associated with both Lavender and Parvati, she didn't think much of it and opened the door.

Inside, she found Lavender in a state of distinct disarray. Her blouse was partly unbuttoned and her hair looked uncharacteristically messy. Blushing a red deeper than her earlier sunburn, Lavender turned aside and fiddled with her buttons. Parvati hitched up her shorts and kept her eyes down, waiting for Hermione to say something.

When nothing but silence hung in the air, Parvati looked at Hermione and said, "So now you know."

Hermione just nodded.

"Shocked, are you?" asked Parvati, crossing her arms defensively.

"Not really." Hermione moved further inside and took a seat at the desk. "Don't take this the wrong way you two, but between learning you're lesbians or learning you've managed to conjure up the ghost of Durga, it's the second thing that shocks me more."

"We're not lesbians," said Lavender quickly, smoothing down her blouse and flicking back her hair.

Parvati glanced sharply at her but before she could say anything, Hermione continued.

"Bisexual, queer, questioning - whatever. I only came up to show you the owl I received from Professor Lupin. He's going to Apparate to that grove of trees down the road at sunset. We have to be there to meet him."

"Oh." Parvati felt rather deflated somehow. 

"I'll leave you two alone," said Hermione with a hint of a smile, and closed the door behind her.

As soon as she had gone, Parvati rounded on Lavender. "What did you mean, we're not lesbians?"

"I hate that word," said Lavender, peering into the mirror and brushing her hair. "It's not what we're like."

"Well, it's what everyone else would call us."

"I don't care. I don't like it." Lavender stayed by the mirror and avoided looked at Parvati.

"So what exactly have you been playing at these past few weeks? All those things you said to me – was any of it true?"

Hearing the hurt in Parvati's voice, Lavender put down her brush and turned to face her. In a softer voice she said, "Of course I meant what I said to you. You're the most important person in the world to me. I just think what we have is special, you know? It's not like anything else. There doesn't seem to be a word that can define it."

"Well, plenty of people have a word for it." Parvati didn't look pacified. "And some of those words aren't very nice. You'd better decide how serious you are, Lavender, because I can't take it if you bail on me. A few days ago you tell me you can't face any of this without me and now you tell Hermione you're straight?"

"That's not exactly what I said to her - now you're putting words in my mouth. I _am_ serious about you Parvati, really I am." Lavender took a step towards Parvati, but the other girl stepped aside. 

"We'd better get downstairs if we're going to walk to the grove in time to meet Lupin," Parvati said, picked up her bag and left. On her way down she paused on the stairs and studied Hermione, who sat in the living room flipping through a magazine. Hermione seemed to know an awful lot of ways to describe sexual orientation. Parvati wondered where she'd got it all.

**

Remus Lupin knew he would be joining Hermione, Parvati and Lavender, but when he saw the three girls standing together the sight still struck him as odd. Usually Hermione was part of a trio consisting of Ron, Harry and herself - he'd never seen her around other girls before. And certainly not in the company of Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, whom he remembered only vaguely as girls who were more interested in hairstyles than Hinkypunks. 

"Thanks for coming, Professor," said Hermione, stepping forward. 

"I could hardly refuse, Hermione, not after what you told me." He looked more closely at the other two. "Is it true, Parvati? Did you really see Durga? And I understand you have a demon under your control as well?"

"Yeah. At least one demon, anyway," Parvati muttered, glaring at Lavender.

Lavender snorted, tossed her head and marched away.

"What's going on?" Remus asked Hermione.

"Oh, don't mind them. Lover's quarrel." Hermione was eager to show him the weapons and the hand.

"Oh?" Remus looked first at Lavender, then at Parvati. "_Oh_. I see," he stammered. "Very well, let's take a look at what you've got here."

Lavender and Parvati forgot at least temporarily about their feud as Professor Lupin examined their weapons inventory. "You girls have been very thorough," he praised them, and Lavender smiled. "Now where's that demon, Parvati?"

Parvati took out her wand and flashed it at the hand, which she'd turned invisible for the journey to meet Lupin. None of them had felt very easy about walking the roads of Wiltshire with a disembodied hand bobbing alongside them. 

She explained her interactions with it so far, including making it bleed while dueling. "What do you think it is?"

Lupin frowned and approached the hand. "This is unusual," he murmured and peered closely at it. Then he turned to Parvati. "Will it allow me to touch it?"

"If I tell it to," she replied, a touch of pride entering her voice. Again drawing her wand, she pointed it at the hand and ordered it to stay put.

Lupin placed his own wand at the small wound, muttered something inaudible to the girls, and healed the gash. The hand began to hop around in excitement, but Lupin merely murmured soothingly to it and took it in his own hand. After a few minutes' scrutiny, he released it and turned back to the girls.

"Most unusual." He shook his head. "This hand did belong to a demon once, years ago. He had shown particular loyalty to Durga and in exchange she animated his hand, which was severed in battle. Although not technically alive in the sense that you or I are, this hand does have powers of its own and responds to commands issued by Durga or -" he turned to Parvati and Lavender "- her daughters. That would be you two."

Lavender blinked in surprise. "You mean I can control it too? I thought Parvati was the only one."

"Well," smiled Lupin. "First you have to master the weapons."

"How did you know all that?" asked Hermione, head cocked to one side.

"I wrote the book on Demonology," he replied and with his wand extracted the textbook Hermione had been carrying in her knapsack. "Well, co-authored, anyway."

The book floated into her hands and Hermione stared at the cover. _An Introduction to Demonology, 4th edition_ the title read, by Bronia Borenius and (in smaller script) R. J. Lupin. "How could I not have noticed?" she wondered aloud.

"Borenius is really the big name in demon studies," said Lupin modestly. "But that textbook has brought in a fair amount of Galleons. My only source of income sometimes, book royalties."

"So are all demons evil?" interrupted Hermione, thinking back to the incident in Lavender's bedroom.

"Most are, yes, but many of them are simply what we might consider amoral. For instance, the demon from which this hand originated was part of a large group of mercenary demons - willing to fight for whomever made them the best offer. Of course, mercenaries usually aren't highly trusted, but still… I don't think you have anything to fear from this hand," Lupin concluded.

Lavender hadn't been listening. Instead, she was inspecting the weapons with renewed interest. She picked up the largest sword, the one with the ability to cleave mountains, and held it with both hands. She swung it from right to left, surprised at how heavy it was. 

Lupin, noticing what she was doing, hastened over. "Careful," he cautioned. "That was Durga's personal blade of choice. Perhaps you'd better start with one of the lighter pieces."

Lavender leaned the sword into the ground and was surprised when it easily ripped up the turf, providing no support to lean against. She carefully replaced it near the other items. "This one's kind of cute," she mused, selecting one of the elaborately jeweled and ornate daggers. 

Parvati, pleased to see her friend taking an interest in things, suggested, " Try sparring with the hand."

The hand obligingly hovered in front of Lavender and wielded its own blade. Lavender jabbed at it uncertainly, not coming close to making contact. 

"Why don't you try this spear?" suggested Professor Lupin hastily, and held up one of the thin, lightweight golden spears.

"Okay." Lavender readily relinquished the sword and accepted the other weapon. She drew it back and hurled it at a tree, but her throwing style was so ineffective even Parvati laughed.

"You're such a girl!" she crowed, as the spear took a nosedive. "That had an accuracy charm on it and you still managed to throw it right into the ground."

Lavender scowled. None of the weapons felt very natural to her. Clearly, Durga had made a mistake. Even Hermione had a better throwing arm than she did.

"Let's start with these smaller swords again," suggested Lupin tactfully, handing her one and drawing his wand. "I'll conjure you a target."

But before she could even get started, Lavender let out a loud cry of pain. Lupin's hand-off had been quick and she hadn't quite caught the handle. Instead, the sharp blade had sliced across her palm and index finger. Her hand felt warm and sticky with blood.

Parvati leapt to Lavender's side. "She's hurt!"

Lavender stared as her own blood quickly covered her right hand. Her fingers and indeed, her entire hand, seemed to throb with as much strength as did her heart, seemed to echo her own pulse. Yet just as quickly, the throbbing pain gave way to numbness and then to nothingness. It might as well be her own hand that floated in midair, she felt that disconnected from it all. 

"I really don't like blood," she murmured, staring at her bloody palm, and then she fainted.

**

Lavender had cloudy memories of seeing Lupin crouching over her, attending to her injury, and of being transported back to her house. She had no idea what Parvati and Hermione told her parents but when she came to, she saw Parvati, Lupin and Hermione sitting in her bedroom.

"Lavender!" exclaimed Parvati, noticing she'd opened her eyes. "You're okay, Professor Lupin says you'll be fine. I should never have teased you -"

"It's okay," interrupted Lavender. She glanced down at her hand, which was heavily bandaged but no longer painful. "What happened?" She struggled to raise herself in bed and looked over at her two other visitors.

"I'm afraid I should have handled that sword with more care." Lupin spoke apologetically. "You've got a nasty gash. I'm no Madam Pomfrey but I do know basic healing, especially when it comes to er, lacerations. You'll be fine by tomorrow."

Hermione said nothing, just looked from Lavender to Parvati with a worried expression. Lavender could guess what that meant. "You don't think I can do it," she said flatly, staring at her hand. "It's up to Parvati now."

"That's not true," insisted Parvati, crouching next to her and stroking her hair. "Durga came to us - both of us - for a reason. Remember what she said about you," she added, almost in a whisper. "I can't do this without you."

Lavender didn't know what to say to that, so addressing herself to Lupin and Hermione asked, "What did you tell my parents?"

Now they looked sheepish. "Well, some memory charms were used," admitted Hermione. "We had to act quickly and it was just too much trouble to explain everything and why Professor Lupin was here so he just, you know…"

"So what? What'd you do to them?" Lavender was feeling more awake by the minute.

"They're fine. They're just…resting," said Lupin. "Once this whole situation is sorted out they'll have no memory of it."

Lavender had raised herself up on one arm but now flopped back against the mattress. Her parents were in a state of magic-induced catatonia and she had nearly sliced off her right fingers. At this rate You-Know-Who would have gained control of farm animals not only in Wiltshire but also have extended up through the rural Midlands. And British beef was already facing so many problems.

As if reading her thoughts, Professor Lupin shooed Parvati and Hermione from the room, saying he needed to check on Lavender.

"You're going to be just fine," he assured her, taking a seat near her bedside. "By tomorrow you can be in fighting form again. Just some blood, makes it look worse. And your parents will be perfectly all right. It's really for the best."

Lavender rolled over and faced the wall. "I don't know why all this is happening to me," she said. " I've always been ordinary - I don't want to be different."

"You don't always get to choose these things," offered Lupin. "I didn't want to be a werewolf, but that's just the way things worked out."

"I know and look where it got you - you had to leave Hogwarts after your first year teaching because of it. I don't want my life to be like that. I just want to be normal."

Lupin regarded her for a moment, then asked, "Why do I get the feeling you're not talking about Durga's legacy anymore?"

Lavender turned to face him. "That's just one thing. There's other things that are more…permanent."

"Like how you feel about Parvati?" he asked gently.

Lavender blushed and dropped her eyes.

"Lavender, you're both very young. I can't say what direction your life will take in the future. But it seems clear Durga has singled out both you and Parvati for a reason. And part of that reason is the love you share for each other. If you continue to fight it, you could place not only Parvati in jeopardy, but also the magical community that is fighting against the Dark Lord." Lupin looked down at her and added, "Many people regard love as a great gift - why not accept this gift and use its strength to fight against those who would impose a darker world on us?"

"Do you really think Parvati would be in - in jeopardy?"

Lupin sighed. "Divination seems to be your strong point, not mine. But I do know the history of Durga and those who have allied themselves with her. She only chooses those witches who have unusual courage. Perhaps you're not giving yourself enough credit."

Lavender didn't say anything, but even with her face buried in her pillow she could feel herself smiling.

**

Downstairs, Hermione and Parvati fidgeted in the living room.

"D'you think Lavender will be alright?' worried Parvati.

"Of course," Hermione answered impatiently. "Lupin knows his remedies."

Parvati sat next to Hermione on the Brown's plaid sofa. "I know. I was thinking more about, well, other stuff."

"Oh, like what I walked in on earlier today?" asked Hermione with an amused smile.

Parvati flushed. "Kind of. Before you came here I said we should tell you. But she didn't want to. Even after you found us she -" Parvati paused, choosing her words carefully. "She said we weren't really, you know, like that. I feel like I've been pushing her into all this stuff she doesn't want to do - the demon stuff, learning to use the weapons, being with me…"

Hermione's amused expression faded and she became more contemplative. "Lavender is no pushover," she pronounced. "It's true she's obsessed with hairstyles, makeup and clothes and her constant giggling can be tiresome, but she also seems pretty obsessed with you. She looks at you the same way Ginny Weasley looks at Harry."

"Really? You think so?" Parvati tried not to sound too excited. 

"Oh, yeah." Hermione nodded. "Besides, your relationship really isn't _that_ unusual. Haven't you ever read _Witches Almanack_?"

Parvati shook her head. "Sounds really boring."

"Oh no, not at all. It's about this famous coven in Paris – all the cleverest witches used to meet –" Hermione noticed Parvati's glazed expression and hastily got to her point. "Anyway, most of them preferred the company of other women, if you know what I mean. It's not like you're the only one to ever feel this way."

"Tell that to Lavender," sighed Parvati. She looked over at Hermione's stack of books. "I suppose we should make ourselves useful and figure out what You-Know-Who wants with a herd of cud-chewing demons."

Hermione produced her notes and her books and spread them out on the Browns' dining table. But before they proceeded very far, Parvati asked abruptly "How did you know all those, y'know, terms and stuff this afternoon?"

Hermione smiled and continued brainstorming reasons Voldemort might have for wanting buffalo demons. "Well, I do read a lot."

**

Lavender had fallen into an uneasy sleep, but awoke early the next morning despite her lack of sound sleep. Her hand felt completely normal and when she removed the bandages she saw no hint that she'd nearly lost several fingers. 

"Parvati, wake up." She crept to the bed next to her and shook her friend. "My hand is all better."

Parvati had stayed up late with Hermione and Lupin. Groggy, she opened her eyes and peered sleepily at Lavender. "I'm tired," she murmured and pulled up the covers.

"Get up, come on," urged Lavender. She glanced over at Hermione, saw she was still asleep, and gently began to kiss Parvati.

This action produced a more satisfactory result. Parvati opened her eyes and sat up. "Aren't you afraid you'll get caught?" she smiled.

"No." Lavender flexed her fingers. "You'll be happy to know I have complete range of motion in this hand."

"That _is_ a relief," admitted Parvati. She stretched the length of the bed then said, "Everyone thinks you're such a good girl. And boy-crazy."

"I know. I try to make it work for me," shrugged Lavender modestly. Then, placing her hand on Parvati's thigh, she leaned forward and kissed her in a way that meant business.

"Would you two stop, already?"

The two girls jumped at the sound of Hermione's voice. "How long have you been awake?" demanded Parvati.

"Too long," grumbled Hermione, sitting up and glaring at them. "Do you have to act like lovesick teenagers all the time?"

"But we _are_ lovesick teenagers," protested Parvati. "It's not acting." She glanced at Lavender to see how she'd react and to her relief the other girl was smiling. 

Hermione slid out of bed and began rummaging through her things for some clothes. "Well, let's get busy then."

Parvati grinned. "For your information, we _were_ getting busy - until we were so rudely interrupted."

"Not like that." Hermione crossed her arms and gave them a rebuking look much like one they might have earned from Professor McGonagall.

"Okay, we'll be good," Lavender promised and attempted to adopt a lofty tone. "We're both incredibly committed to…to…becoming frighteningly competent Daughters of Durga."

Parvati burst into laughter. "Frightening, yes. But you're hardly close to being competent, _Lefty_."

"Shut up." Lavender glared at her but Parvati could see the smile in her eyes.

"Could you please be serious for just one moment?" Hermione's hands were on her head and she was pulling at her bushy hair. "We've already wasted enough time!"

Lavender was about to point out that pulling at her hair like that would only make it bushier when their attention was distracted by tapping at the door. "Er, girls?" they heard Professor Lupin ask tentatively. "Could you come downstairs please? I think I've made an important discovery."

**

"Why do I have to master all the weapons if we're not really going to use them?" asked Lavender, squirming uncomfortably at being the center of attention. 

They all sat around the Brown's kitchen table, where Professor Lupin had just explained his theory that they would not, in fact, be doing any actual battle. Lupin's face looked more drawn than usual and Lavender wondered if he'd spent the whole night reading.

"Because," he explained patiently, "You must demonstrate you _can_ use them. Then you will have control of the demon hand, which from what I gather is most likely to use the weapons to assist you."

"But what about what I saw in the crystal? I saw Parvati fighting. Something bad is going to happen, I can just tell."

"You could have seen her sparring with the hand or another target," reasoned Hermione. "Visions of the future tend to be open to interpretation, as I recall."

"Seeing as you didn't even finish one year of Divination -" began Lavender hotly but Lupin cut her off.

"I'm not guaranteeing you won't use them. But modern magical technique has changed considerably since Durga's time. As spellwork has become more sophisticated, there is less need to resort to the kinds of enchanted arms used centuries ago. For example, you can use the trident to break a Grindylow's grip, but you can also use the techniques I taught you in my class, which require nothing more than your own wand."

Lavender sighed. "Which brings me again to my question - why do I have to use the things if all I really need is my wand?'

"I think it's your test," said Parvati quietly. "Remember how Durga said I'd passed her test by binding myself to you instead of Padma? Maybe this is the thing you have to do."

"Maybe." Lavender still looked unconvinced. "Do you really want me to do this?" she asked Parvati.

"I don't want you to do anything unless _you_ really want to do it," Parvati said. Her eyes were very dark, so dark the iris and pupil were nearly indistinguishable. 

"Alright, then. I'll try." Lavender pushed back her chair and stood up, her delicate face resolute. Parvati noticed she kept clenching her right hand into a fist, then releasing it, and knew Lavender was nervous about hurting herself again.

"I'll help you this time," Parvati offered, and left Lupin and Hermione at the table.

Outside, she selected one of the spears and handed another to Lavender. The ever-helpful demon hand hovered nearby, providing an audience. 

"It's all in the follow-through," Parvati instructed, demonstrating how to throw. She took aim at a large tree trunk and released the spear, which shot through the air and into the bark. "Now you try."

Lavender laboriously copied Parvati's motions with the result that even if her shot didn't go very far, at least it followed a straighter line than yesterday. When they had used all the spears the hand obligingly flew over near the tree and collected them, then deposited them at Parvati's feet.

"Again." Parvati stood by while Lavender perfecting her throwing arm. When she finally succeeded in connecting with the tree, the hand became so excited it seized the remaining spear and hurled it next to Lavender's with astonishing precision.

"Show-off," muttered Lavender, but still smiled to herself. Her shoulder and arm felt quite sore already but at least she could now throw objects without inducing gales of laughter.

"Want to take a break?" asked Parvati. The mid-morning sun had burned off any lingering wisps of fog, and now both girls were hot and tired from their workout with the spears.

But Lavender shook her head. "No. Let's keep going."

"Okay." Parvati hesitated, then returned to their stash and carefully handed Lavender a sword, taking another for herself. "Watch me." She demonstrated a few moves she'd learned with the hand, then turned again to face Lavender.

Lavender closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath. As she did so, familiar images flashed across her mind's eye - the same images she'd seen that last day with Professor Trelawney. Parvati was standing against a background of trees, something was hovering nearby her, and she was dueling with - Lavender.

Lavender shook her head and looked around, startled at the sense of deja-vu she'd just experienced. All that time spent looking for a familiar clearing - it had been here, in her own garden that she'd seen Parvati. And now saw herself. 

"You okay?" Parvati frowned at her friend.

"Yeah. Let's go." Lavender felt suddenly confident, as if she knew now what to do, and subsequent events proved her right. Both girls moved carefully, probably more cautiously than they might have done had Lavender not hurt herself. As they became more comfortable with the weapons in their hands and with each other, they developed a kind of rhythm until Lavender felt the sword was moving her along of its own accord and she merely had to follow it. She didn't notice when Hermione and Lupin came outside to watch.

"Very good." Professor Lupin spoke quietly but was smiling at her with obvious pride. Lavender and Parvati paused, their blades against each other, then dropped the weapons and walked over to join the others. 

Even Hermione looked awed. "Do you know how long you've been out here?" she asked, wide-eyed. "You didn't even come in for lunch."

Now she thought about it, Lavender was famished. The only thing they'd paused for was water breaks. She looked over at Parvati, who had her hands on her knees and was breathing heavily. Her long braid had loosened and strands of hair poked out at various points. Feeling Lavender's eyes on her she straightened up and smiled.

"You're really working as a team now," said Professor Lupin, looking first at Parvati, then letting his gaze rest on Lavender. 

"I've been in touch with Professor Dumbledore," he told them all, "and he's aware of the situation. He's also made arrangements to exempt you from the underage use of magic rule, provided I am supervising."

The three girls exchanged looks. For Dumbledore to have arranged for such an exception could only mean he thought it likely they would have to use magic to defend themselves, or others. 

Noting the more sombre mood, Lupin attempted a smile and said, "I almost forgot - I brought these for you two." He tossed an orange to both Lavender and Parvati, who quickly peeled them. Lavender stood in the sun, swallowing orange sections and enjoying the smell of citrus that now hung in the air, too tired to really think about what Lupin's news might mean.

As they turned towards the house, the hand suddenly flew in front of Lavender and came to a halt just before she reached the back door. It then held itself up in an unmistakable gesture of inviting a high-five.

Lavender grinned and slapped her palm against the dismembered one floating before her. "Cool." 

All of them walked inside. As Lavender and Parvati headed for the stairs, Hermione dashed up ahead, suddenly excited in a way that could only mean she'd learned something new. "Guess what I found out while this afternoon - demon's blood is a stain remover! Professor Lupin told me and I gathered some from the carpet for a test and it really worked."

"Great. Maybe my mum will let me keep it," said Lavender, gesturing towards the hand. She was almost starting to think of it as a pet. "It can help with the laundry."

Hermione burst through the door, eager to show them the results of her work, but Parvati touched Lavender's elbow and held her back for a moment on the landing. "You were really amazing today," she murmured, twining her fingers into Lavender's.

"Think so?" Lavender smiled wearily, then leaned forward and kissed Parvati, tasting the saltiness of her neck and the tang of orange that lingered in her mouth. Leaning against her, Lavender closed her eyes and let all the thoughts and feelings drain out of herself, all except for how it felt to have Parvati kissing her right now.

"See? Look how it removed - oh, honestly you two!" They didn't even bother moving at the sound of Hermione's exasperated voice. "That's it. Tonight I'm sleeping downstairs on the sofa!"


	4. Chapter 04

A/N: Lavender/Parvati slash, if you've just wandered into this story. For the uninitiated this means you'll be reading scenes of girls kissing other girls so if you're not up for that turn back now. But really, this is "slash lite" so nothing too intense. 

I believe it was the ever-curious Bookcat who asked if this story is connected to my others - no, they're all distinct and unconnected. More notes after you've finished reading…

DEMON LOVE PART 4

Lavender slid out of bed and walked to the open window, where the filmy curtains shimmered in the night breeze. Leaning against the sill, she stared out across the blackened countryside and thought about everything that had happened so suddenly. It felt like months since she'd been at Hogwarts, although in fact barely two weeks had passed. 

Biting her lip, Lavender turned slightly and watched Parvati sleeping. That night she'd first kissed Parvati had been so carefree - she'd had no idea their being together would result in an ancient magical creature coming to visit. Lavender sighed gustily. Sleeping didn't help drive away her fears and neither did standing by the window. If only she could stop worrying, stop thinking so much. Self-reflection wasn't her strong point.

"What's wrong?" 

Lavender turned away from the window and saw Parvati looking at her. "I couldn't sleep."

Parvati tossed back the sheets and joined Lavender at the window. "Are you worried about what Lupin said?"

"No." Lavender shook her head. "I was just thinking…"

Parvati stood behind and wrapped her arms around Lavender. Leaning her head on Lavender's shoulder she asked softly, "What were you thinking about?"

Lavender kept her back turned for a few moments, pondering the thoughts and images that had just been running through her mind. She couldn't think of any way to talk about them and instead she simply turned, held Parvati's gaze for a moment in the darkness, then leaned forward and kissed her.

"I guess we were thinking about the same thing," whispered Parvati a few minutes later. She looked at Lavender in surprise. "So you're…okay with everything? With us, I mean?"

"Yeah." Lavender nodded. She wasn't okay, not completely. She still worried about what everyone would think, worried she was choosing a path that could only lead to sensible shoes and unfashionable haircuts, but most of all she worried something terrible was going to happen to Parvati and she didn't know how to tell the other girl how much she cared about her. 

But Parvati looked so alluring by moonlight, with her hair falling past her shoulders and her long lashes blinking nervously at Lavender it was easy to forget about unpleasant things and focus only on the girl standing in front of her. If she couldn't tell Parvati how she felt she could at least show her, decided Lavender, and she set about doing just that.

Finding herself flat on her back on one of Lavender's twin beds was by no means an unpleasant situation, reflected Parvati, still a little stunned at the sudden ferocity shown by her girlfriend. Lavender's fingers, with a touch as swift and soft as the paws of a kitten, traced their way across Parvati's bare skin. Parvati wondered fleetingly if Lavender had somehow been infused with a bit of Durga's legendary energy after handling all those weapons that afternoon. This seemed unlikely, but how else to explain Lavender's sudden lack of inhibition? 

Parvati soon had no desire to question the origins of Lavender's passion; indeed, almost every thought flew out of her head for the next hour or so. 

"Tired?" 

Lavender's eyes gleamed in the dark in a way that almost alarmed Parvati. "No," she shook her head. "I'm not tired at all - in fact, I could stay up all night. Don't let me fall asleep."

Parvati frowned and was on the verge of saying something, but Lavender suddenly got a second wind and Parvati did her best to make sure her girlfriend would have no cause for falling asleep any time soon.

**

The sun was bright and it was after eleven when Parvati woke up. She might have slept longer except for the noise that drifted from across the fields and through the open window. Crawling out of bed, she made her way to the window and peered outside. 

"Lavender, wake up!" Parvati turned and called to her friend. Outside, the herd of cattle that grazed next to the Brown's place was being rounded up.

"What's that smell?" Lavender wrinkled her delicate nose in disgust and pulled on her nightgown. 

"Look!" Parvati pointed out the window and Lavender joined her.

"Oh no…" Lavender suddenly felt very awake. "It's happening, isn't it?"

Before Parvati could answer, Hermione banged on the door. "Are you two up yet? There's something going on I think you need to see."

Grabbing the quilt that covered one of the beds, Parvati draped it around herself before running to open the door. "We already did. What's happening?"

"Just come downstairs right away. Professor Lupin and I have been reading all we can about buffalo demons. And do you know you're wearing a bedspread?"

"Yes. I only put it on for your sake," said Parvati grumpily. She closed the door and turned again to Lavender. "What do you think I should wear? I didn't pack anything for the apocalypse."

**

Attired in shorts and tank tops, Lavender and Parvati soon joined Hermione and Professor Lupin downstairs. The hand zipped around the kitchen excitedly.

Lavender discovered she had an appetite and as she wolfed down a thick sandwich, Parvati drew Professor Lupin aside. "Um, do you think there's anything, er, different about Lavender?" she whispered worriedly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Parvati glanced back at her girlfriend. "I think she might be possessed. She didn't want to sleep at all last night and now she's eating enough for five men. It's like she's got this…unnatural energy."

Lupin laughed. "I don't think she's possessed by a demon, if that's what you're worried about."

"And I doubt a demon is responsible for her not sleeping last night," added Hermione sarcastically.

Parvati looked suddenly to her right. She hadn't noticed Hermione standing nearby. "None of your business, is it?" she snapped back.

"Girls, please," begged Lupin. "Let's try to stay focused on our common goal rather than become distracted by petty jealousies."

"I'm not jealous." Hermione crossed her arms.

Parvati smirked at her then turned and walked back to the table and took a seat next to Lavender. "So tell me, Hermione," she asked once Lupin left the room, "who would you want keeping you up at night?"

Hermione blushed. "That's none of your business."

"Oh, come on." Parvati grinned at her in a genuinely friendly way. "If you've got a crush, spill it."

Lavender had finished her sandwich now and looked up. "Ron?" she guessed.

Hermione blushed harder and shook her head.

"Harry?" Lavender gaped.

"Oh, what do you care?" muttered Hermione and turned away.

Parvati had been watching her silently. "Is it a student or a teacher?" she asked shrewdly.

"Parvati! Some things are _private_!" Hermione had never looked so uncomfortable and after giving both girls an outraged glare she fled the kitchen.

**

Nobody was teasing Hermione a few hours later when the girls gathered again at the table and inspected the illustration she'd found in an old volume of Professor Lupin's entitled _The Illustrated Guide to Demons: 101 Colour Plates from Antiquity to the Present_. The book was open to a picture of a buffalo demon and beneath the grisly illustration was the motto: _Quod me nutrit me destruit_.

"What nourishes me destroys me," said Hermione, tapping the illustration and fixing Lavender and Parvati with a meaningful glance.

"So?" Lavender raised an eyebrow and gave Hermione a doubtful look.

"It's obviously the key to eliminating this demon," she replied impatiently.

"If it's so obvious then what are we supposed to do - starve it to death?" snapped Lavender.

Hermione flushed. "I haven't figured it all out yet," she scowled, "but I think it's safe to assume this is not a literal suggestion. We've got to read between the lines."

"We could poison it," offered Parvati, trying to be helpful.

However, Hermione seemed to take this remark as yet another joke at her expense and simply glowered at Parvati. "That's too obvious."

Lavender walked away from the table and plopped down on a nearby sofa. "We're obvious, Hermione. Shallowness and surface. Get used to it."

"Girls, please."

They all swiveled around to see Professor Lupin enter the room, looking displeased at their bickering. 

"Hermione is right - we need to think beyond the literal here. And Lavender, " he continued, quelling the comment already on her lips, "I think you've already shown us you are more than mere surface. Whatever we discover, you and Parvati will be integral in eliminating it."

Parvati had seated herself at the table with Hermione and now spoke up. "How do we even know where the demon is? All the livestock in the area are being gathered up - surely there's not a demon in every one of them."

"No, I don't think there is." Lupin frowned. "That's why this motto is so important. Once we figure it out I suspect we'll be able to identify the demon animals."

"But there's nothing that would keep you alive but also kill you," protested Lavender. 

Hermione had been pacing the room ever since Lupin's arrival. Now she stopped and looked up at them, eyes shining. "I think I've got it. The motto isn't about a thing, it's about a concept: a consuming passion. Something you become obsessed with and keeps you going. Something that animates all your energies yet chokes everything else out."

"What, like weeds?" asked Lavender.

"No. Like love." Everyone turned and looked at Parvati. She continued, "Consuming passion, like Hermione said. The demon feeds on love in various forms but ultimately love could undo something so evil."

Professor Lupin nodded and everyone tactfully ignored Hermione's chagrined expression.

"You may be right, Parvati," he said slowly. 

Only Lavender failed to be impressed. "If you're right, I still don't see how love is going to help us tell which cows contain a demon. Are we just supposed to go out there and commune with the animals and be able to tell which ones are evil?"

Parvati shook her head. "No. I think it's only the ones that have been pastured nearby, the ones who've been feeding off us." She looked meaningfully at Lavender. 

"Eeww. That is so disgusting! Those cows have been sucking my psychic energy?"

"Erm, I wouldn't say psychic, exactly," blushed Parvati. "Just, you know, think about last night. How you couldn't sleep."

"_Oh_." A wave of understanding flashed across Lavender's face and she blushed bright red. Then she went back to looking annoyed. "I feel so…violated. Do you think those cows were watching us?"

"Lavender, I really don't want to have to think about the picture you're painting for us all," growled Hermione between clenched teeth.

"Oh, just because you're not getting any -" started Lavender but once again Professor Lupin hastily intervened.

"I think we've all got the main idea," he announced, looking rather embarrassed himself. "At this point it may be too late to be able to identify the local animals. We've got to find out where they're being taken and deal with it from there."

As they prepared to go out Lavender complained to Parvati, "I still feel so used. How could they tell how I felt about you? The one time I finally get the courage to -"

"Shh." Parvati held her fingers to Lavender's lips and smiled. "I don't care. I'm just glad you finally acted on your feelings."

**

"This place smells like a troll convention," complained Lavender, picking her way carefully across the stockyard. Countless animals - cattle, pigs, sheep, goats - milled in small pens. 

"You'd think You-Know-Who would pick a better place to gather up his latest minions," agreed Parvati, treading delicately. 

"No, this is ideal." Lupin glanced around them. "The stench is enough to drive off any passers-by and this stockyard is isolated - nobody to see him descend and conjure the demons from their hosts, especially once it's dark."

"You mean we have to stay here until nightfall?" cried Lavender in alarm.

Hermione shuddered, but not at the thought of more hours in the smelly holding pens. She'd worn sturdy shoes and had sharp enough eyes to avoid stepping in anything unpleasant. Instead, she was thinking about the possibility of seeing Voldemort. She knew Harry had confronted him before but personally she'd always been very happy to have avoided face-to-face encounters.

The afternoon heat melted away with the disappearing sun and a cool breeze rattled through the stock pens. Lavender, Parvati, Hermione, Lupin and the hand sat quietly at the edge of the area, upwind from the animals but facing the wooded area that bordered the paddocks.

Lavender kept running through the scene she'd glimpsed in the crystal ball at Hogwarts. Nothing here felt familiar. She wondered if she'd been wrong. Everything in Professor Trelawney's class felt so hazy anyway - it was only once her teacher provided an authoritative explanation that Lavender could really make sense of anything she saw. 

She caught her breath as flashes of light disrupted the peaceful darkness that had settled over them. Was You-Know-Who really going to make an appearance? 

Everyone sighed with relief when the shimmering ceased and a large snake appeared before them. Normally they would have been disturbed by a large reptile dropping from the sky but it suddenly seemed much better than a vision of Voldemort.

An unseen voice spoke, so chilling they all knew who the speaker was. "Nagini," it commanded the snake, "fetch my waiting demons."

The snake, which had been hovering above ground, dropped to the dry grass and slithered forward. Lavender clutched at Parvati's arm and watched, wide-eyed, as the snake made her way towards the livestock.

Parvati glanced at Lupin, then at the bag of weapons they'd brought. The hand was quivering with excitement, or perhaps outrage, and Lupin quietly held it in his own two hands to keep it still. 

They watched breathlessly as Nagini wended her way among the pens, ignoring some areas altogether and finally stopping at a group of Holsteins. She raised herself up and began swaying like a charmed snake. Rather than incite a stampede, her presence merely resulted in three demons detaching from the cows and emerging beyond the fence rails in their solid, demonic form. 

Although she had seen the illustration, Parvati recoiled at actually encountering the buffalo demons: they swaggered on powerful, thick hind legs yet walked upright. She stared at their red, scaly arms and hands and their over-sized buffalo heads topped with short, curved horns. 

Once released the creatures made their way to the point where Nagini had first appeared, moving as if in a trance. The snake continued on, now pausing at a group of sheep and freeing another demon. She slithered past a flock of goats, which held no interest for her, and cruised towards a group of Guernseys and eventually some Polled Herfords. 

By now a dozen demons stood assembled by the wood. Lavender felt increasingly nervous and wished she had a spear or sword in her hand - anything that would protect her against the hideous creatures. Parvati seemed to have the same idea, for she reached out almost instinctively to the weapons bag but Lupin laid a restraining hand on her arm and shook his head warningly.

The chilling voice now addressed the demons. "Once I assert my rule, you will no longer have to hide yourselves in these inferior beings, but will be free to roam as you once did, aiding me in the elimination of the useless, the impure and the disloyal."

Lavender and Hermione winced at his words, especially the way he placed special emphasis on "impure." Parvati placed a protective arm around Lavender and pulled her close.

"Demons, you have cleverly found an energy source and restored yourselves with strength enough to appear before me. There is a magical presence before you - eliminate it and you shall double your strength - and my appreciation."

The demons, which until now had stood like zombies, became suddenly animated and turned their large, shaggy heads in the direction of Lupin, Hermione, Parvati and Lavender. 

"I think now would be an appropriate time to put your training to use, girls." With a pointed nod at the weapons, Lupin released the hand and Parvati drew open the bag.

Hermione and Lupin held their wands aloft, ready to strike. Lavender, meanwhile, felt confused. Lupin had said they wouldn't need anything but their wands but now he was giving them significant weapons looks. Deciding to play it safe, she drew out her wand and seized the shield for extra protection. She may have been able to hit an oak tree in her garden but she didn't feel ready to spear an enormous demon.

Darting around the large, slow-moving creatures the hand soon became a blur of action as it wielded its own blade. Parvati held one of the jeweled daggers, but as the demons bore down upon them, the weapon suddenly seemed much too small and inadequate to stave them off. Perhaps a good stunning spell would work better.

She never got a chance to find out. Lupin and Hermione beat her to the punch, crying out "Impedimentia!" in an attempt to retard the demons' progress. While a few dropped back, most continued, picking up speed as they approached.

Terrified, Lavender stuffed her wand back in her pocket and reached for a sword. Lupin glanced over his shoulder and saw the two girls standing with their weapons raised. "Drop your arms!" he called.

Puzzled, Lavender lowered her arms until they both hung at her sides. She didn't see how she'd be able to defend herself very well, but if Lupin said so she was willing to try it.

"No! Get rid of the weapons!" he shouted frantically before turning back to issuing another stunning spell.

Parvati locked eyes with Lavender, nodded, and they both let their swords fall with a clatter. "What nourishes me destroys me - we've got to turn it back on them," she whispered to Lavender, and as the stampeding demons drew nearer she pulled her girlfriend close for a passionate kiss.

"You mean we have to kiss in front of all those demons?" faltered Lavender. 

Parvati placed her arms around Lavender, as if she hoped to shield her with an embrace. "Yeah." She glanced over Lavender's shoulder at the approaching horde. "Talk about performance anxiety."

"Good thing we're not boys, then," said Lavender. Remembering what Professor Lupin had told her, that Parvati might be in danger if she didn't do her part, Lavender leaned forward, closed her eyes, and kissed Parvati with all her might. 

As she did so, another light appeared on the horizon, crackling like an electrical storm. The girls broke apart at the intense brightness and saw, for the second time, Durga. This time she appeared riding an enchanted lion, and as she came within range the weapons flew to her many hands. 

Parvati knew what she needed to do. She allowed herself a quick glance into Lavender's dark, frightened blue eyes before seizing the girl in her arms and trying to convey all she felt for her in just one kiss.

Pointing his wand at them, Professor Lupin shouted "Amorati!" The girls both felt something hit them, something that made them catch their breath. Parvati clutched Lavender to her fiercely and buried her own face against the other girl's shoulder. The force of the spell had nearly knocked her off her feet and only the precarious balance of their bodies against each other seemed to keep them upright.

Meanwhile the disembodied hand had rejoined its mistress. It followed proudly alongside Durga's lion and the sight sent the demons scattering. In their panic, many of the creatures stampeded past Lavender and Parvati. Those who did so fell to the ground, clutching at their eyes. Durga and the hand moved in for the kill. Neither Lavender nor Parvati dared open their eyes or break their embrace but from the sound of it, the field was becoming rather littered with demon parts.

"Run for it, you two!" The girls broke apart and looked about wildly at the sound of Hermione's shrill voice. She and Lupin were dashing towards an open shed while Durga now turned her attention to Nagini and her master.

Parvati grabbed Lavender's hand and together they ran to join the others, slipping and splashing across the grass which now sparkled with demon blood. "What happened?" Lavender's voice quavered and Parvati could feel her trembling.

Nobody answered. They were all waiting to see what would happen next. Nagini raised herself and hissed at the lion, which answered with a roar. The snake next struck out at the demon hand, which had been bobbing irritatingly around her and taking jabs with its sword. 

"Enough!" Nagini dropped to the ground at the sound of her master's voice and coiled herself defensively. 

"So it is you, Durga. You have sent these…these children to do your work?" sneered Voldemort.

"They are my daughters," she replied. "Only the loyal, only the pure of heart could have provided a force powerful enough to repel the evil fiends you tried to call your own."

"There are others like them to be found. You may have thwarted one plan but rest assured, I have many others incubating." 

"Then we shall meet again," promised Durga. A clap of thunder signaled Voldemort's withdrawal. All eyes remained on Durga. The girls had never seen her in her full glory, conveyed by the magical lion and with all her weapons at the ready.

She turned to the girls, her three eyes focused on each of them, and the severed hand waved vigorously. First Parvati, then Lavender waved back. Durga's image shimmered and she disappeared with her faithful servant. A few echoing rolls of thunder rumbled in the distance, reminders of the powers that had just clashed before them.

Silently, the foursome made their way back to the Brown home. As they turned down the narrow lane Parvati remarked to Professor Lupin, "We didn't even get to use magic - and after you got us special permission!"

"Actually, in a way you did," he replied. "The Amorati spell only works if, as Durga indicated, the love is sincere and intense. You two provided the essential alchemy that enabled me to cast the spell which in turn both protected you and blinded the demons that came near you."

Lupin's expression was both tired and proud as he surveyed them. "You've all demonstrated enormous courage tonight. Gryffindor house should be proud of you - all of you," he added, drawing Hermione into the circle with his kind eyes. Then he turned and opened the door and walked inside.

As they lounged in the living room, it was clear everyone was exhausted but beyond the point of sleep. Professor Lupin went into the kitchen and conjured up some food. Lavender's newfound appetite was not in the least diminished by her recent encounter with the demons and she eyed the platter of food appreciatively.

They ate in silence for a bit, everyone too hungry to bother talking. Parvati was the first to speak. 

"That Amorati spell - will you teach us how to do it?" She already had several uses planned for the spell once they returned to school, all centered on protecting Lavender from anyone who dared mock their relationship.

Lupin shook his head. "It's very complicated. Perhaps you'll learn it next year, however. For now, I think you'd all best get to bed. Lavender, I'll revive your parents tomorrow morning. Is that all right with you?"

"Of course." Lavender's hand stole over to Parvati's and they exchanged grins. 

After promising Professor Lupin they would soon go to bed, the three girls remained downstairs. "Thanks for coming, Hermione," said Lavender. "We definitely couldn't have done this without you."

For the first time that day, Hermione looked back to her old self. "I'm just glad we all lived through that," she shuddered. "But I must say it's been very educational. Think of all the extra information you have about History of Magic, not to mention you should be getting much higher marks in Defence Against the Dark Arts _and_ Demonology now."

"Absolutely," agreed Parvati, while thinking only Hermione would see this adventure as having value-added educational benefits.

"Well, thanks again for helping with the demons. And for understanding about the two of us," added Lavender with a glance at Parvati. "Do you want to come back upstairs to sleep? We could have a party."

Hermione smiled. "No thanks. I'd like to actually, um, get some sleep tonight."

Parvati and Lavender said good night to Hermione and went upstairs. "It's not that late," observed Parvati, looking at the clock. As the shock of their encounter wore off she found she still had a lot of adrenaline-inspired energy.

"I know." Lavender locked the door. "And there aren't any demons lurking outside tonight."

"So all your energy last night - it wasn't just from the demons?"

Lavender grinned and pulled Parvati close. "Only one way to find out, right?"

After allowing Parvati ample opportunity to determine the likelihood of possession, Lavender asked, "What do you think? Supernatural forces or my own?"

"Hmm." Parvati drew back with a smile. "At this point I'm not sure I care. I have only one request," she added, leaning Lavender back against the bed, "try not to wake up Hermione - the poor girl deserves at least one good night's sleep here."

Lavender smiled in the darkness and reached for Parvati. Maybe kissing your girlfriend while surrounded by hordes of evil demons wasn't the most romantic way to declare your love but she felt that after surviving that ordeal, she wouldn't be afraid of facing anyone at Hogwarts. There was just one more thing.

"Parvati?" asked Lavender.

"What?" Parvati struggled to focus on conversation.

"Remember how I wouldn't tell you what I saw in Trelawney's room?"

"Yeah," Parvati said between kisses, "but you already told me about that. It's all over now. Demons gone."

"There was one more thing I didn't tell you about." Lavender wriggled up into a sitting position. 

Parvati pushed back her hair and sat up as well. "What?"

"I did see the scary stuff, but I also saw the two of us, together. But it was before we ever even kissed - I thought it was just my own wishful thinking."

"You saw us together, like this?" Parvati gestured at the two of them sitting on the bed.

"Well," smiled Lavender, "let me show you _exactly_ what I saw." She pulled Parvati next to her and Parvati later had to admit she was very glad Lavender had not shared her vision with Professor Trelawney. Like Hermione had said, some things were private.

**********

A few last notes. I know I never revealed who was making Hermione blush - just one of those lingering ambiguities. Is she or isn't she? Only further fanfiction will tell… And the motto "Quod me nutrit me destruit" appears written under a portrait that hangs in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, not in _The Illustrated Guide to Demons_, in case you were wondering. 

Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading this series: Amy S Farmer, cloudstrife 73, Keith Fraser, Wotan, Rug, Lunamew, William 212, Rosmerta, Bookcat, Rathera Mutemwiya, Lupinlover, Qwyneth, jj, stared out by a mad cow, Tessie, 12, Cassandra Claire, Celenae the Goddess of REVENGE, and Merlayne Q. I appreciate your readerly support!


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